Tyrrier Cornèbre Forest

[Inkedust]

Coniferous trees towered over any pokémon who wished to reach Tyrrier's northern border. Cold air from Malantau brought thick fog and overcast days that threatened heavy rain with a perennial scent. It made it difficult for light to reach the forest floor, even when the day was at its brightest, giving the woodland a pervasive, dusky look during daylight hours. The dense forest stretched out for many kilometres across Revenia with no trace of interference from any uplifted pokémon beyond the simple, beaten track that led the way to Reven Hollow, the province's capital.

Such a a place, so cold and gloomy, made it the ideal nesting ground for murkrow.

A countless number of the dark birds roosted within the trees, peering down at any passerby. They cawed amongst themselves, carrying with them the voices of pokémon from all over the continent while taking the words of the travellers below. Very rarely did the sound of other wild pokémon, such as the hoots of a noctowl or the howl of a lone houndoom, break through the chatter. It made it so that it was impossible to get any sense of privacy despite the region's remoteness.

Moving deeper into the forest would reveal the many the tree trunks that bore the odd glyphs described and photographed by the Covenant. Alongside them, several more spectacular gashes that tore apart and splintered the bark – as if someone had ran through the place with a carelessly brandished axe. Whatever it was, it created a pervasive sense of unease. This was their territory and the murkrow were more than happy to flaunt that fact to any outsider.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix poked at a piece of splintered wood with a clawtip, her eyes narrowing in thought. This was rather new, wasn't it? Between the tabloids and the Covenant, she was confident that she would've heard something about it by now.

"Do you think that these were made by the same thing that carved those glyphs?" she asked no one in particular. Bellatrix was pretty confident that they weren't but she seemed keen to theorise for the time being. The oddities here had completely enraptured her, demonstrating a side to her that she tended to hide beneath a cool and collected veneer.

The zoroark looked around and when she noticed the lack of a certain scarlet bug in her perimeter, she groaned. "And..." Bellatrix began, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle. "Has anyone been keeping an eye on Ser Garnet?"

"Oh don't go worrying about me!" chirped the scizor near the back of the group. "I'm right here! What kind of escort would I be if I lost sight of you, hm?"

"Of course," Bellatrix replied curtly.

Despite the word of both the Covenant and Garnet herself, it felt like the Wayfarers themselves were doing the escorting as Garnet had a propensity to wander off and get distracted by anything that looked mildly interesting. From the glyphs, to the patterning of the tree bark, to a wild spinarak that spat webs in her face. In all honesty, it would've been easier to leave her behind but the Wayfarers had an image to maintain and a mission to complete, even if it meant putting up with the scizor's antics. Bellatrix's own patience had waned to nothingness and she hoped that another Wayfarer would take Garnet off her claws.

[ ] Expedition Objective: Investigate the Source of Radiance in Tyrrier​

As they walked, Bellatrix's ears began to flick and her mane billowed. Something felt off and the others would sense it too but the feeling was indescribable. Were they being watched? Followed? Perhaps they could look around and investigate with what limited time they had...

 

[Namohysip]

"Well. This bodes well," Mhynt muttered.

Since they were out in the open with mostly only themselves, Mhynt freely let Owen walk alongside her, stretching her shadow in the process. The Charizard's entirely black body and hollow eyes traced the surroundings. It wasn't like their strange powers were a "secret" of any kind at this point, so what was manifesting an entire wraith Charizard to them at this point?

"...I feel like I'm not gonna like this place," Owen admitted. "Maybe this is how Grasses feel about walking through lava caverns..."

"...I can confirm that," Mhynt said. "Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any of that yet. I'll be sure to keep you shielded when we get there."

"Maybe I can build up a tolerance?" Owen said, smiling awkwardly.

"...Sure. Just as I'm sure I can build up a tolerance for Toxic."

 

[Weazel]

The forest had an eerie, almost timeless quality to it. The thick canopy overhead cast the forest floor into an eternal gloomy twilight, the dense foliage muffled all noise, except for that of the stolen voices of the Murkrow overhead. The birds certainly were a talkative bunch, their constant murmuring whispers were enough to drive one half to madness…

But, the whole effect was somewhat ruined by their presence. They made for a large, almost unwieldy group, even excluding their Covenant babysitter – who, admittedly, seemed to be the one being babysat more than the other way around. He’d had clients like this Ser Garnet back home, they all had in their guild. The kind that got talked about behind their backs for weeks after their job was finished. At least Scizor was a relatively sturdy species, so long as they didn’t run into any of those Houndooms the metal bug could probably be trusted to take care of herself.

Archie found himself drifting from place to place within their group, from the front with Bellatrix keeping an eye on the path ahead, to the rear gently moving Garnet along when she’d gotten distracted yet again. At present, he was in the front, running a paw along the gashes carved into many of the passing trees.

“Whatever it was, they went on a real rampage,” he said, not realizing the Zoroark’s question had maybe been a tad rhetorical. The fur on the back of his neck was standing up again, his paws drifted back towards his scalchops. The Dewott turned his head this way and that, listening not so much for sound but for its absence. Their presence disturbed the Murkrow, but so long as the birds kept talking, at least it meant something worse hadn’t come along and spooked them.

 

[Tetra]

Koa felt like he was well and truly in his element. The weather was perfect, the ambience reminded him of Eterna Forest, what with Murkrow and Noctowl and slightly spooky feel. If he let himself, he could almost pretend the periodic distant Houndoom calls were actually from Anubis. Even considering their mission, it was pleasantly nostalgic. As close to home as he could get maybe.

The Scizor with them made for an odd traveling companion, and he felt uneasy with a stranger, but he tried his best to stay professional and focus on their mission.

He wandered over and examined one of the splintered trees closer, trying to get an idea of what kind of blade or weapon made the damage, and how big. His nose twitched as he sniffed around the trees, wondering if he could detect any familiar scents.

Koa used Odor Sleuth!

 

[Jackie Cat]

Those damn murkrow again. Laura couldn't shake the feeling that they were spying on the Wayfarers specifically. But for whom?

She rubbed her eyes with a paw, and focused on examining the evidence. Good that they'd run across one of the strange signs they'd heard reports of – always better to take a look for oneself than to rely on second-hand accounts.

Moving deeper into the forest would reveal the many the tree trunks that bore the odd glyphs described and photographed by the Covenant. Alongside them, several more spectacular gashes that tore apart and splintered the bark – as if someone had ran through the place with a carelessly brandished axe.

The glyphs were carefully scratched into the trees, like written symbols. The large wounds, the ones that looked like axe-strikes, were different... Incidental damage, or hasty destruction, not made with the same purpose at all. Or even the same implement, probably. And presumably more recently, at that, or the Explorers' Office would have taken ferrotypes of them too, surely.

"Those big gashes – those weren't made by the same 'mon that made the glyphs," she concluded. "They're new, aggressive..."

She touched the wounds, as if she expected to find sap oozing from them. It didn't seem likely that a woodsmon had tried to fell these trees with an axe, so... what kind of 'mon had axe-like natural blades? Haxorus, she guessed, but she couldn't see Razael's sharp, smooth blades making great tears like this. Something bigger...?

"What kind of 'mon has great big axes in its anatomy?" she wondered aloud.

 

[Tetra]

"Doesn't look like anything I can think of." He tilted his head, staring at the marks. Not a Honedge or Bishsrp, he was pretty sure.

Axes. He didn't know of any axe pokemon unless... Back home there wasn't any living but Forlas might be different.

"Actually... I do know one. They're extinct I think where I'm from but there used to be a pokemon like Scyther, but with axe blades. A different kind of evolution. Kleaver I think?"

 

[Inkedust]

Garnet buzzed with excitement at the sight of the void charizard. "So it's true then!" she admired. "My! You Wayfarers get more interesting at every turn."

Meanwhile, investigating the gashes and glyphs, it was apparent that whatever made the dents in the trees was axe-like, though at this point it was impossible to tell whether it was by a weapon or a pokémon with similar appendages. Although for the latter, there were several candidates that the Wayfarers could narrow it down to.

Bellatrix folded her arms and tapped her claws against her gems. "From my knowledge, anything with a sharp enough blade could have made these. An absol, a haxorus, or maybe even -" she glanced at Garnet. "A scyther," she finished.

And as Koa used Odour Sleuth to investigate the area, a wide variety of scents made themselves known to him. Most were about what he would expect; such as the smell of the trees, from pine, to fir, to spruce, or the species of pokémon that called these woodlands home. But there were several things that were markedly unusual as well.

The gashes in the trees smelt of dry dust and augurite, strange given the humidity and relative lack of volcanic activity in the area. A rock-type then. It went deeper into the forest and split off into several distinct points. Meanwhile, per Laura's suspicions, the glyphs smelt completely different. Instead of volcanic rock, the faint scent of frost lingered on them which would mean that the pokémon responsible for the glyphs had an affinity with ice.

But before any further thought could be given...

SNAP!

Out in the distance, something heavy lumbered. The Wayfarers were not alone but... Were they friend or were they foe?

 

[canisaries]

Andre had to hide his disapproval every time he looked at Garnet. Based on the talk surrounding her, she was quite patronizing when it came to mon of non-human descent. Basically what Andre had thought everyone at the Covenant would be like before he'd actually met a few of them.

Then again, she wasn't as bad as that grovyle, Ralsen. Apparently, he was a human from another world just like them - a trainer, and one that Jade knew. And he'd tried to steal the Relic the Wayfarers had gotten from Timeless Oasis which was kept at Ranger HQ. And they had to just pretend to be fine with that.

Well, Andre knew well how to pretend to be fine with people whose actions he didn't approve of. It was just that, many times, he'd actually get to kill them. Not that he could kill Ralsen for a multitude of reasons - Andre wasn't strong enough, it'd be against the Wayfarer's will, and finally, theft isn't something you kill people over, Gods, Andre, what the fuck are you thinking?

He wished for something to reorient his thoughts...

SNAP!

Out in the distance, something heavy lumbered. The Wayfarers were not alone but... Were they friend or were they foe?

...and got his wish granted, for better or for worse. Probably worse.

"I guess we should investigate that," he said, keeping his voice down.

 

[Weazel]

True, there were many Pokemon with blades for arms, and even more besides that possessed fairly substantial claws. But, something told Archie they wouldn’t have to wait for their answer for long – and that snap in the bushes proved that.

The Dewott crept his way around the perimeter of their group, positioning himself between the source of the noise and the rest of his companions. There, he found a small rock, picked it up, and tossed it into the bushes roughly where the noise had seemed to come from. He’d tried this tactic once before, some months ago now. Only this time, he didn’t think the Pokemon he’d flush out would be a certain red Lycanroc.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt sighed to herself and glanced at the others. "I can scout ahead," she said. "Teleporting is trivial if there's trouble."

"I can also go. I'm just a shadow, so..."

Already, she crept forward, and Owen slithered flatly along a tree in a more shadowy form as he tried to get a better vantage point to see more.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura didn't even blink. She'd spent months in this cat body of hers by now, and its instincts were second nature to her.

She was up the nearest tree within five seconds of hearing the snap.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf hadn't paid a ton of attention to the murkrow before, really. Yeah, they were definitely noticeable, sticking their beaks in all over the place, and it'd been kinda weird that they'd even showed up in the Timeless Oasis, but wasn't like they were saying or doing anything anybody could do anything about. Impossible to ignore them here, though. You couldn't move ten steps without feeling who-knew-how-many stares drilling into your back. It'd probably have been enough to make her skin crawl if she hadn't been busy being annoyed at babysitting Garnet and Ralsen.

Her ears went to the snapping sound before her thoughts caught up with them. She held her ground, lit up her horn, but kept her eyes on the murkrow above for a few seconds more. Did they care about the loud noise? If they weren't scattering, then...?

 

[Chibi Pika]

Ralsen hadnt said much during the journey thus far--while his eyes occasionally lingered on one of two Wayfarers like he had something he wanted to say to them, he seemed content to wait until they reached their group destination before striking up a conversation. He took particular note of the Murkrow chattering overhead. There was something about them...

Then the timber snapped. Ralsen's claw flickered toward his hip for a split second (the muscle memory of a Pokéball belt?) before he sprung into the air and landed on a tree branch, scattering a pair of Murkrow that had been roosting there. The Grovyle peered into the distance curiously, ready to leap from branch to branch if necessary.

 

[Inkedust]

The murkrow didn't appear to be bothered by the strange noise. Some just tilted their heads at it, while others saw it as another noise to mimic. Maybe they had just enough time to get used to the perpetrator's presence?

From their vantage points, Owen, Laura, and Ralsen would realise that the foliage and murkrow were too dense to get a good look in the distance, so it was difficult to get a view on the stranger but what they could see were traps. Many, many traps so that if any altercation were to occur, it would be impossible to avoid them all. And as if to demonstrate, when Archie threw his rock, the pebble was immediately intercepted by a pillar of stone.

Bellatrix's ears pinned back. Something wasn't right here. She looked up, scanning the trees, and if the others followed her line of sight, they'd be able to see...

A noivern, wearing a long scarf, perched in one of the trees. She was staring directly at them. Wait... Wasn't that—

"Oh so that's is how you like to fuckin' play ya filthy skin-thieves!" The sound of stone sharpening against each other echoed in the forest. "Too scared to face me like a real pokémon?" Before anyone had time to react, the swish of a blade followed by the rumbling and crash of a felled tree rung out from behind the Wayfarers, preventing immediate retreat. "What did I tell ya, Farin! Do you believe me now?"

A flash of brown leapt above the Wayfarers and landing just before them was the sight of a mighty kleavor. He was covered in body paint depicting swords and crescent moons and between that and Farin watching from above, the Wayfarers plans were being intercepted by the Vanguard.

Kleavor brandished his axes with a wicked grin. "And don't you go thinkin' about fighting," he growled. "We rigged the place so thoroughly that you can't take a single step without getting tripped up. Didn't take you long to show your true colours, didn't it?" He gestured in the distance to where Garnet presumably was but if the Wayfarers were to look back, they would notice that, to make matters worse...

...Garnet had wandered off again.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt sighed to herself. She glanced at Owen, then at the Kleavor, considering her options. The threats, the growls, the clear trap of some kind that they'd ever so conveniently wandered into...

"Question," she interrupted, raising a finger. "How many souls have you consumed in the recent months?"

Owen, can you dismantle the traps?

That's a lot...

Do what you can.

The Charizard wraith crawled through the darkness...

 

[Weazel]

With a flourish, Archie drew his scalchops, and summoned their Razor Shell blades, squaring off with the Kleavor on the ground. Against the Rock Type, he liked his odds. The Dragon would be a problem though, especially chose to rain attacks from the sky. And that was assuming they were bluffing the number of traps, at least to some small extent. Still, even with their erstwhile guide vanishing again, they still had a numbers advantage. They’d beaten Alexander and shut down Cipher, what were these two compared to that?

He glanced at Mhynt out of the corner of his eye. Clearly she was up to something, best to play along for now.

“Oh, I’m quaking in my metaphorical boots over here,” the Dewott deadpanned. Then he shot the Kleavor a smirk, “If you think you’ve got us dead to rights, why don’t you come over here and prove it?”

 

[Tetra]

Koa was just beginning to consider that it very well could be a Kleavor, somehow, especially given the damage to the trees and the distinct sort of mineral-like scent clinging to it. They were rock types after all.

Then there was an ominous SNAP and a few moments later, a voice followed by an axe-bladed pokemon he'd only ever read about in books.

He dropped into a defensive battle stance, as he finally recognized the Noivern that had appeared. Wasn't that the 'Vanguard' mon Gladion and the others had mentioned?

"Sounds like you're the scared ones if you had to booby trap a whole forest just to have the guts to confront us!" he snapped, his voice edging into a snarl. He studied the Noivern and the Kleavor closely. He had no plans to make the first move but he wouldn't be caught off guard either.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura gripped the tree trunk, her claws sinking into this. Her hackles shot up, her tail puffed out, but no. No, they had this. They'd fought legendaries together, in smaller groups than this. A dozen of them against a couple Vanguard? Traps or no, they had them outmatched. Right?

She exhaled through her teeth. Even if she could reason with this new guy, she shouldn't. They had to keep their cover. That was the whole fucking point of running a mission for the Covenant. She'd have to fight like she really was loyal to them, and bite her fucking tongue about why. God, was this just a taste of what Matthias had to do every time he fought Valere...?

"Don't reason with him," she sent through the group telepathy. "We can't afford to look disloyal."

In her head, she looked for a win-con, rifling through the options...

 

[Phoenixsong]

"...who are you?"